Vadodara: Two nabbed for ‘murder’ of 22-yr-old woman

Muskaan Imtiyaz Khan.

The Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) in Vadodara nabbed two persons, on Tuesday, for the alleged murder of a woman whose body was recovered by police from the Mahisagar river near Fajalpur in the district on October 4. The accused have been identified as Mujassam alias Sebu Anwar-ul-Hassan Khan, 24, and Sandeepkumar Shrivastav, 25, both residents of Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh. While Khan works as a truck driver, Shrivastav is a cleaner.

The victim, Muskaan Imtiyaz Khan, 22, was allegedly in a relationship with Sebu’s younger brother, police said. Sebu was against the relationship as he did not approve of the victim’s promiscuous nature, he has said in his statement to the police, as per Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCB, Jaydeepsinh Jadeja.

Police said that Muskaan had, in the past, filed an application against Sebu and his younger brother, Shoaib, after the latter had refused to live with her. However, in a settlement, Shoaib had moved in with Muskaan and the duo had shifted to Mumbai. Subsequently, Sebu hatched a plan and cajoled Muskaan into accompanying him on a trip to Gujarat. Police said that the victim had agreed and travelled with Sebu and Shrivastav on October 2.

“The duo stopped the truck shortly after Karjan toll plaza in Vadodara district on National Highway 8. From there, Sebu and Muskaan shifted into another truck of Krishna, a friend of Sebu’s. Shrivastav, Krishna and the cleaner of Krishna’s truck went into Sebu’s truck. Shortly after the toll plaza of the Vadodara Ahmedabad Expressway, Shrivastav joined Sebu in Krishna’s truck and they strangulated Muskaan. They tied her legs and hands with the dupatta. Shrivastav then got off from the truck near the Mahisagar river bridge on the expressway and threw Muskaan’s body into the river. They proceeded as usual to deliver their goods and returned to Mumbai,” police said in a release.

Jadeja said, “We cracked the case with help of technical assistance. We checked call records of the victim and found that she was mostly in touch with transporters — drivers and other employees in the business. We narrowed down on the accused after checking the antecedents of all truck drivers who passed through the expressway between October 1 and October 3. While Sebu was nabbed from Bachau, Shrivastav was nabbed from Morbi.”

The police will produce the accused in court after formally arresting them following Covid-19 testing. In a case filed at Nandesari police station, the duo was booked under IPC section 302 for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App.